{"id":203964,"date":"2024-06-19T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=203964"},"modified":"2024-06-19T19:46:52","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T19:46:52","slug":"food-is-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=203964","title":{"rendered":"Food is medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cFood is Medicine\u201d is a produce prescription program being tested by Michael E. DeBakey VA<\/a> in Houston.\u00a0In addition to $100 on a special debit card to purchase fresh produce, Veteran participants also receive nutrition education and on-going coaching.<\/p>\n

Army Veteran Herman Johnson struggled with his weight for years.\u00a0His health suffered, his mobility suffered and even his relationships suffered.\u00a0But last year, his life began to change when he enrolled in a VA pilot program aimed at increasing healthy food access and improving health outcomes for Veterans. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Johnson, a longtime Houston VA patient, says he is seeing better results than he could have ever dreamed of since enrolling in the program last February.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have lost 35 pounds and gained a whole new perspective on eating.\u00a0Before, I wasn\u2019t going to spend my money on vegetables, I was more into soul food. Once I started eating fresh produce recommended by the program, I became much more open-minded about changing my eating habits. I am now hooked on greens and other healthy food, and have even taken up juicing,\u201d Johnson shared.<\/p>\n

250 Veterans enrolled<\/h2>\n

Houston was chosen as one of two VA sites nationwide to pilot the Food is Medicine<\/a> program through a partnership between VA and the Rockefeller Center. Almost 250 Veterans are now enrolled and the initial results look positive.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/a>
Dr. Zachary Decatur and Johnson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cOver the past six months, we have seen Veterans in the Food is Medicine program just blossom,\u201d said Registered Dietician Amanda Slover, assistant chief of nutrition.\u00a0They are losing weight and seem very open to making dietary changes and improving their health. Some of the Veterans, including Mr. Johnson, have even started gardens in their backyards so they can grow their own produce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson says the Food is Medicine program has done more than help him lose weight. It has helped improve his life. As a facilitator in a prison ministry, an active volunteer, a grandfather and a great-grandfather, he is often out and about in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am much more active now and I just feel better overall. I\u2019m now eating to live, rather than living so I can eat. Who knew that I would learn to love beets?\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s VA primary care physician, Dr. Zachary Decatur, is also impressed with the results of the program. \u201cMr. Johnson\u2019s healthy eating is really paying off for him. His overall health, including weight, blood pressure and blood sugars, are improving.\u00a0It\u2019s really great to see him take charge of his health and get such great results.\u201d<\/p>\n

VA extensive research on Veterans and obesity<\/h2>\n

One study\u00a0reported 86% of Veterans were overweight or obese at their first visit to a VA while\u00a0another<\/a>\u00a0showed the prevalence of diabetes is at least 5% higher among Veterans than the general population. Expanding programs like Food is Medicine at VA could address the impact of diet-related disease and food insecurity among Veterans while evaluating their impact for building the case to embed these programs into a fully integrated healthcare delivery system.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt VA, we know comprehensive and innovative nutrition programs like Food is Medicine help Veterans maintain healthy lives and achieve food security,\u201d Slover said. \u201cWe are committed to going above and beyond to care for our Veterans and helping them create healthy habits. This is a powerful way for us to assist Veterans through a Whole Health lens.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Johnson, his health journey is far from over.\u00a0He wants to achieve a healthy Body Max Index by his 65th birthday and is now eating a mostly plant-based diet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have a little weight to lose, and I\u2019m not going to stop.\u00a0My knees are feeling better, and I\u2019m having fun gardening and learning more about healthy eating. I\u2019m very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFood is Medicine\u201d is a produce prescription program being tested by Michael E. DeBakey VA in Houston.\u00a0In addition to $100 on a special debit card to purchase fresh produce, Veteran participants also receive nutrition education and on-going coaching. Army Veteran Herman Johnson struggled with his weight for years.\u00a0His health suffered, his mobility suffered and even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":203966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[681,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-203964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=203964"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":203970,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203964\/revisions\/203970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/203966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=203964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=203964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=203964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}